#it feels so gross and exploitative lol

[butchvamp]

really disliking this new corporate strategy of using trans people as marketing (hersheys and now bud light(?????)) where these massive billion dollar brands just expose trans women to the most vile harassment possible while they get to profit off their image and pretend to be progressive. like wow cool you put trans women on your chocolate bar and your beer cans but are you like, doing anything for them and the wider community or are you just parading them around...lol. also it really frustrates me that people will eat this shit up. brands targeting the lgbt community as a marketing demographic is not a good thing, actually. it should piss you off that target sells tshirts with the word queer on it. it should piss you off that hersheys "we use child slave labor" chocolate is trying to target you specifically with their advertisements

[subconsciousmysteries]

Men are absolutely losing it because women are seeing through their bullshit and I'm here to watch their collective narcissistic meltdown

[stinkrascal]

the worst take i have ever seen is when someone on here said that basically anything horror related is just goreporn and theres no reason for things like that to be in art and, worst of all, people are bad if they enjoy things like that. like idk how else to tell you this, but disregarding an entire genre of storytelling just bc you think its icky is the antithesis of art imo. im sorry not every story follows a disney formula so its easier for you to grasp the main point:( must be rough

[sailing-ever-west]

Okay but can we talk about how Big Mom is like one of the best portrayals in fiction of the problems with exoticism?

Narratives where one group hates the other for racial, cultural, physical, or other reasons are common, and although they still require nuanced execution to really be meaningful, in essence they're fairly easy to set up. "You're different, so I hate you and want you beneath me."

Exoticism, on the other hand, is something I really don't see dealt with as much. It takes more thought to explore the idea that oppression can be expressed not as outright hatred of certain traits, but through sensationalizing and commodifying them. Thinking a trait is cool or beautiful, but taking away the rights of the person it belongs to.

The way Totto Land is run demonstrates this perfectly. On the surface it's "accepting" of all races, people of all shapes and sizes, but not being directly attacked and discriminated against is held over all of their heads in order to exploit them for continued donations of their literal life force. Acceptance is conditional on their usefulness.

Big Mom also literally collects living creatures in a scrapbook zoo for her own entertainment, and creates beings bound to her will out of inanimate objects. She's enchanted with the idea of Brook as a living skeleton, holding him like a doll and playing with his hair (relevant that it's an afro, imo), only upset at his apparent "death" because she's lost her new favorite toy.

It's shown perhaps even more starkly with all of Big Mom’s children. She births offspring of every race in order to have their powerful traits under her command, and discards the fathers once they've added to the gene pool as she wanted. It's a tool of imperialism to get those people groups under her reign. And as shown with Pudding and Katakuri, she can sometimes personally be disgusted by the physical traits of her mixed children and make them feel the need to hide, only tolerating their appearance in hopes they'll be useful. She can't stand that Pudding looks like a beautiful human girl in every way except for that "gross ugly eye," a necessary evil that is only a positive if it grants her powers. She discriminates against her daughter even while benefiting from her.

It all feels so reminiscent of "oh, I only date Asian women because they're more attractive and have good wife traits," and "you're so pretty, but you'd look better with straight hair," and "white and Filipino couples make the most beautiful babies, that's who I want to marry," and "wow, you're so pale, I could barely guess you were Mexican," and "black people are just naturally better at sports" and "you'd look better with a tan" and "you'd look better if you were lighter" and "black hair is gorgeous but it doesn't look professional" and "I'm dressed up as a Gypsy/Indian/etc." and "I want a curvy girl but actually fat people are gross," and "I'd love to have a gay best friend lol, as long as they don't make it their whole personality," and "autism is your superpower! why do you act so weird though?" and on and on and on.

Big Mom is a fascinating and surprisingly realistic example of obsession with unique traits despite giving no actual respect to the people who have them. Once again, Oda, hats off on shockingly accurate depictions of oppressive systems.

[mymoshangthoughts]

oki my guys can we plz talk about gold digger airplane?

like look, i know it's nice to write him with the moral fortitude to not want to take advantage of his partner financially and ngl, some of my favorite fics have portrayed him as being uncomfortable with people buying him shit

but dearest to my heart, this man will hug any thigh in the name of gold-digging his way to comfort

pride? what pride? who has time for pride when you've written a million words describing papapa for the explicit purpose of paying your bills. you look down on those who have the pride to be uncomfortable with expensive gifts

you have one of several reactions when you are presented with an expensive gift

score! i love this, i wanted this, it's mine. if they try to take it back i will weep and beg and bite

score! i hate this, its totally gross looking, imma sell it off at a marked up price and get a profit out of this worthless fucking gift

score! this means that i have this level of monetary value to the person gifting me, which means i can ask for more shit, better shit, give me an inch and i will take a mile

score! this person is clearly dumb with their money and will therefore be easily persuaded into spoiling me fucking rotten. this is it, boys. we made it

or really any variation of this

look, he might totally love the person gifting him the items. assume its his one true love, the icy king mobei jun himself and he is looking at this glamorous diamond gift going "o...m...g... he's dumb with money. this is the jackpot. sexy, cool, AND easily exploited for cash?! I WILL MARRY THIS MAN"

look

i just want shameless gold digger shang qinghua so fucking bad

also literally mobei jun realizing that shang qinghua is weak to wealth and just being like "oki so imma just literally bury him in diamonds so he'll never even think to leave me" bc mobei jun Does Not Care

whether shang qinghua is staying for his massive tits or his expansive treasury, so long as shang qinghua stays, he is a happy dude

but also yes i want him to be mean about it LOL please make shang qinghua cry by confiscating his diamond collection. do it.

shang qinghua cackling as he counts his money and being on top of the world and calculating how much he'd get in a potential divorce (because he's cynical as fuck and he WILL win the divorce, fuck you. even tho he has no intention of divorcing this man. that would be like killing the golden goose or whatever)

and sure, shang qinghua does 100% absolutely love his husband. if his husband was poor as dirt, shang qinghua would still be there at his side through thick and thin. his feelings go beyond money and he would pinch every penny for the rest of his life to be with his beloved. this is all true about him and his feelings of love and loyalty are sincere as fuck

but does that mean he isnt OVER THE FUCKING MOON TO MARRY RICH? dude, he is living his fucking dream and he is going to take FULL advantage of this gloriously bountiful life. it's like finding out your boyfriend is well-endowed. like sure, you'd still love him if he had a small dick, BUT YOU ARE NOT COMPLAINING ABOUT THAT BIG DICK, NOT AT ALL, YOU INTEND TO ENJOY THAT BIG DICK TO THE FULLEST EXTENT

thank you for attending my insane rant, long life gold-digger airplane. may he thrive!

shen yuan: *scrunches up his face* how can you deal with that? he treats you like a wallet

mobei jun: eh, he has yet to figure out that ive basically used that wallet to trap him in this relationship

shen yuan: that sounds like financial abus--

airplane: HUBBY! I WANT A NEW PAIR OF SHOES! THE ONES THAT COST AS MUCH AS CAR!

shen yuan: ...ya know what, match made in heaven. im going home.

(shen yuan who would absolutely hate if binghe treated him like a wallet but also spoils his binghe rotten without being asked and would 100% be uncomfortable receiving expensive gifts from binghe lolol)

[ljaylmaoo]

🎃Kinktober Day 5- Exhibitionism🎃

Hook x fem!reader 18+

!!UNEDITED/NOT PROOFREAD!!

warnings: Morgie and reader fight over hook (playful), classroom sex, grinding, creampie, the VKs are quite “normal” in this? lol, humiliation..?, caught..?, orgasms, creampie, etc!!

a/n: hello welcome to Kinktober day 5! I sincerely apologize for the wait 😭 I was focused on the fab 5 special and hit writers block then when I was writing them I didn’t like how they were going so i decided to completely rewrite them both. I’m still working on the fab 5 special so it may not be posted till tomorrow or the next! HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 👻

All I can say about this one is poor Morgie… 😭

word count: 2.7k

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

Quickly walking out of your dorm and down to the courtyard, you attempted to pull your skirt down that was riding up your thighs just a little too high, though it was just enough to cover the bottom of your ass. It wasn’t new for you to be wearing something as revealing as this, you were always confident in your appearance and style which is what your boyfriend, James, adored about you; having a girlfriend with just as much boldness as him in terms of fashion and personality had let his own confidence bubble over (becoming a bit too much for some people to handle, though he couldn’t care any less). But knowing that you weren’t wearing anything underneath made you feel a type of nervous excitement that swarmed within. The way a simple breeze could easily divulge your dirty little secret to the whole school. It made you more excited to know that letting James in on your naughty exploit would easily play with and falter his own composure which is exactly what you wanted.

You wanted to be the one in control for once.

You entered the courtyard and strode over to your friends who were all in your usual spot at a bench in the far left corner. You made a quick glance at the others and lightly laughed to yourself as you saw that Morgie was of course bothering your boyfriend, sat on his lap and face cupped in his hands trying to kiss his cheek while Hook was trying desperately to pry him off cursing at him as the others laughed; but your main focus was on James.

The moment you made eye contact with the pretty brunette pirate his face instantly lit up and with one forceful shove he managed to push Morgie off his lap causing the boy to collapse onto the ground with a grunt. He stood up and picked you up, spinning you around, thankfully having his arms wrapped around your ass to keep the skirt from flying up at the action. You giggled and hugged him back, “Hello, darling” he smiled and began feathering kisses all over your face as a nonverbal way of saying ‘thank you’ for saving him from the previous situation he was stuck in before placing you down on the ground. “Hi” you replied still giggling, “um, were you cheating on me just now with Morgie?” You jokingly asked while gesturing behind you with your finger, pointing to the boy who had just gotten up off the ground with a pout on his face, Maleficent and Hades still getting a kick out of it. James only rolled his eyes, unamused, “haha, very funny. You know I would never.” You laughed again, “I know I’m just teasing, love.” You said, scrunching your nose playfully and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

He sat back down and pulled you on top of him by your waist and rested his hand on your thigh, the feeling of the fabric of his pants making contact with your bare core reminded you of your lack of underwear and your original plan you had for today which had brought back the fluttery feeling in your stomach. “Gross.” Morgie rolled his eyes, still holding the grudge against Hook after he had thrown him to the ground. “Aww Morgs, are you mad because you can’t sit in his lap?” Mali cooed sarcastically, keeping the bit going. Morgie crossed his arms pouting more, “yes. I am, actually.” He began, “Because he is mine.” He stated while looking directly into your eyes with a glare, making it known that the statement was directed towards you. Hook groaned in annoyance, resting his forehead against your shoulder and slowly shook his head being completely fed up with him. You tilted your head, “that’s a shame…” you exhaled in faux disappointment, “cause it’s really comfy.” You smiled taunting the boy more while snuggling your hips more into his lap, getting more comfortable and as if on cue, the two of you stuck your tongues out at each other at the same time. “Not fair. She always gets to.” Morgie mumbled while walking over to Mali who patted his head.

“Wait!” Uliana unexpectedly spoke up who was focused on watching Bridget the whole time, causing the group to jump at the abrupt sound of her voice. The action made your clit to rub against his thigh causing you to let out a small moaned gasp which James picked up on. He gave you a weird look, “are you okay?” He whispered, tuning out Uliana’s voice, you smiled at him, “yeah I just…” you trailed off, your nerves making you hesitant on whether it was a good idea anymore or not. “Just, what..?” He questioned, before you could say anything, the first bell suddenly rang. It was now or never. You quickly decided to take the opportunity and follow through with your plan. You leaned closer to his ear, lips brushing against it as you whispered, letting him in on your secret. His eyes growing wide for a second and you felt him shift uncomfortably underneath you as you pulled away and smiled in satisfaction as you watched his face flush, taking a shaky breath. You silently got off him and began to walk away behind Mali and Hades, looking over your shoulder with a wink leaving him stunned for a moment, glancing down your figure. He swiftly got up and desperately tried to catch up with you.

Once you all got to class, Morgie practically ran up to the desk beside Hook’s that was at the very back, and sat down which is when James had finally caught up. He slowly sat down, carefully watching you and Morgie’s interaction as Morgie proudly smiled up at you, “ha, beat you! maybe next time princess.” You sighed, “that’s fine, I guess I’ll just have to sit here then…” you smirked and slyly sat back down onto your boyfriend’s lap, throwing your arms around his neck and pulled him closer all while keeping eye contact with the poor boy beside you. He groaned that you had “won” once again and blew a raspberry at you. “Morgie!” He rapidly turned his head to Uliana who gained his attention and continued talking among the others about whatever her plan was for Bridget, leaving you two to your own previous conversation.

You smiled and turned to James who was already looking at you. “What?” You smirked, he looked into your eyes, “were you being serious?” He asked surprised, you nodded, “I mean you could check if you don’t believe me.” you shrugged. He secretly and carefully brought his hand up your thigh under your skirt, you felt his finger gently brush against your slit before he quickly pulled away, his breath hitching after getting the confirmation. “Fuck…” he mumbled under his breath, you felt a soft bulge grow in his pants. “Why would you do something like that? We’re in school.” You shrugged, “I guess I forgot…” you said innocently. He rolled his eyes, “yeah, right.” He scoffed, “Don’t act like you don’t like it” you cooed, “I can quite literally feel you growing hard beneath me” you lightly rolled your hips on his growing erection. He instantly stilled your hips, grabbing them harshly. “Careful darling, you’re playing a very dangerous game right now.” He growled lowly against your ear before kissing down your neck making you gasp. You tilted your head to give him more access, “that I’m pretty sure I’m winning” you teased and rolled your hips as much as you could with his strong hold on your hips. “Oh really?” He questioned before thrusting his hips up while harshly pulling you down, his bulge easily slipping through your folds from your slick making you let out a whimper then quickly covering your mouth with your hand.

This should be fun.

After class officially began, you two would take turns trying to get a sound out of each other by unexpectedly grinding or thrusting when the other wasn’t expecting it. You’d be lying if you said the risk of getting caught wasn’t turning either of you on. But the feeling slowly became too much for you both, especially James who had grown tired of the restriction of his pants and fabric straining against his rock hard member. After he had perfectly ground your clit on the tip of his cock earning a surprised gasp by you, you had then thought of an idea. As you were sat with your back on his chest, legs crossed “listening” to the lecture while seamlessly twirling your pen in your hand, you purposely dropped it on the ground in front of you under the desk. You slightly lifted your hips and bent over seductively just enough so he could see your bare and glistening pussy lips rub along him with your movement. The sound of your pen dropping had only gotten Morgie’s attention from beside you and peered over, Hook quickly grabbed your hips and harshly (yet somehow discreetly) slammed your hips back down onto him to hide both his noticeably painful erection along with your throbbing cunt. Your mouth fell open at the way your folds were split open and thankfully, from the surprise and quite hard action, only a silent and inaudible scream came out. You quickly sat back up and turned to Morgie who gave you both a suspicious glance before turning back towards the front of the class.

You let out the breath you didn’t know you were holding and nudged Hook with your elbow. He didn’t react and instead held your hips up, just enough so your skirt would hide what he was doing, and quietly and quickly undid his pants, “what are you-“ you suddenly felt his cock spring up and hit your ass. You gasped and giving you no time to think, he pulled your hips down onto his leaking member. You held the side of his thigh for support, covering your mouth to keep the whiny moan from falling out at the feeling of his size entering your tight hole. You heard him sigh at the relief of feeling you around him as he bottomed out, his grip still strong on your hips. “we’re in class…” you mumbled just barely below a whisper so only he could hear you while he guided your hips to roll against him. “Exactly, so be a good girl and be quiet so we don’t get caught.” He whispered with a smirk.

You were frustrated that he managed to take control yet again and at the fact that you thought he would never do something like this. You thought teasing him today would be fun and the punishment would wait… but you were dead wrong. So now you were forced to be split on his cock in the middle of class, slowly and subtly moving your hips along his. The tip grazing perfectly along your g spot making you squeeze your thighs together and held onto his hook (that was hooked around your waist) as support. You bit down hard on your bottom lip almost enough to draw blood trying your hardest to keep your moans from escaping, but you were struggling. Quiet whines and whimpers started pouring out from your mouth and you tried to still your hips. “I can’t take it anymore, please” you whined, gripping the desk in front of you. You glanced at Morgie who seemed to be asleep, his figure quietly rising and falling against his desk. But your whine seemed to wake him up and he slowly lifted his head from his desk and you quickly crossed your legs trying to act casual. He tilted his head, “are you okay, y/n..?” He questioned. Thank god your skirt covered up his cock buried deep inside you. you smiled at him, “no, yeah I’m completely fine. James won’t stop tickling me.” You said while throwing his hands off your hips to play it off. Morgie only nodded sleepily and put his head back down.

James harshly gripped your hips and leaned closer to your ear, “keep moving or I’m not afraid to bend you over the desk and fuck you relentlessly in front of everyone.” He threatened, voice laced with lust. You nodded and continued moving your hips and his grip loosened. The continuous motion created a hot sensation to grow in your lower abdomen causing you to clench around his length and you heard his breath hitch, he began guiding you while your body started to shake, the feeling about to wash over you. He reached around and dipped his hand under your skirt, rubbing circles around your swollen clit. Your breathing began getting heavier and you covered your mouth again. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck-“ You mouthed silently after a few more thrusts and came undone on top of him, your mouth dropping agape as your legs shook and body tensed while you coated his cock with your release. You melted into his chest as he continued the subtle movements. You felt him twitch and he bit down onto your shoulder to stop himself from moaning, letting out small enough whimpers that only you could hear and his breathing was growing heavy. The feeling of him twitching inside you made you squirm and you felt the hot strings of cum shoot deep inside of you cover your insides, filling you up.

You caught your breaths and realized what you both had just done. There was slight panic in your eyes, scared for him to pull out knowing that you had both made a mess (thankfully only on each other) and without saying anything, he spun you around and picked you up, your legs wrapping around his waist with him still buried deep inside as he carried you out of class, both thanking to whoever was above that the door was at the back of the class leaving you both unseen by any of your classmates.

Morgie jolted awake from his deep sleep and looked around to find that your chair had been empty. He furrowed his brows in confusion as he eyed the singular drop of a white substance on the ground.

Well that plan backfired completely…

[aihoshiino]

chapter 165 thoughts

Aqua Hoshigan Status: It's Officially Hoshinover

Chapters Until The Story Ends Without The 143 Kiss Being Addressed Or Acknowledged: 1

damn i guess they really did just kill his ass

I'm gonna be so real with you gamers, I kind of don't have a lot to say about this one either lol. Which I acknowledge sounds completely wild given the Everything that happens in it, but most of my meat and potatoes analysis in these reviews comes from breaking down characterization and we're flying through everything at such breakneck pace that we're barely getting any characterization.

It continues to drive me bugfuck insane that Ai is completely absent from this finale despite the importance of 15 Year Lie. Its imagery is plastered all over but whenever we return to it, we just see Aqua. Not only that, but Gotanda is the one who insists on pushing the movie through for Aqua. 15YL as a story about Ai's true self and her tragedy is now officially taking a backseat to being about Aqua's tragic death and legacy. It was already bad enough that we spent so much time in the Movie Arc not actually focusing on Ai to the extent that, as everyone pointed out, based on what we saw on-page it was basically a Sad Kamiki Movie, but this really is just pissing right in the wound at this point lmao.

The funeral scene also serves as the final nail in the coffin for any Secretly Alive Aqua copes, which is kind of a relief. I still don't like how Aqua's death played out, but I think dragging it out for four chapters then going "sorry you thought i was /srs when i was just /jk" would have been infinitely more insulting. I don't like this ending, but I can respect that Akasaka seems to be sticking to his guns on it, even if we still do have like a whole chapter left for him to whip around and go "I WAS /JK ALL ALONG!!!!" but I don't see it happening.

Anyway, yeah! The funeral! Uh. Is it gonna sound weird if I say I felt kind of like… grossed out reading this the first time? Like, I really don't know how else to explain the visceral "why the fuck is the author making me read this" reaction I had to it. I think it's just because Kana is so fucking distraught here and the drama is just so hammy and so over the top that it feels kind of… ech. I dunno. I just really didn't vibe.

It doesn't help that this is part of a much broader pattern in the back half of OnK of Aka getting us right up close into the gory details of a character's complete mental breakdown and suffering and then spend zero time or focus on their recovery. This happened with Ruby all over the Movie Arc and this many times and with this little runway to the end of the series, it just starts to feel exploitative, like a way to cheaply pull at our heartstrings without doing the work to build everyone back up after tearing them down.

also pre-emptively dreading all the fuel this is going to add to the fires of People Who Are Weird And Misogynistic About Kana but she could die saving innocent children from a burning building and people would find reasons to be shitty about her lmao

we really are not seeing ruby's reaction to finding out her brother was dead huh lol

I will say the one thing I didn't Actively Dislike about this chapter was Ruby, though. I was honestly starting to get pretty skeeved out with how many people were gleefully predicting or actively wishing for her immediate suicide purely for ship motivated reasons and I was also worrying that the story was going to pretend that Ruby doesn't like. Have a life and support system outside of Aqua. Yes, she should absolutely be affected by his death but this period of her shutting down only to drag herself back onto her feet that we seem to be getting feels way more in line with pre-Movie Arc flanderization Ruby and I'll take that W where I can get it.

god. I haven't even talked about Kamiki's supposed serial killer cult. I just don't have the strength. Like… that's self-evidently stupid, right? I don't need to explain to you why that's ridiculous and unbelievable? You don't need me to tell you why it's fucking crazy that we're getting this information about the alleged overarching antagonist of the series not only in the second-to-last chapter of the entire series but after he was already dead, right? We can just move on? Ok good. jesus christ.

FINAL CHAPTER NEXT WEEK…

[tyran-the-tyranical]

I keep seeing people bringing up Raphael’s line about Mol and are coming out with (in my opinion) a little bit of extreme takes.

“What a lovely specimen she is a blushing Apple begging to be plucked”

Firstly, this is just gross and predatory behaviour regarding Mol, just not in the way people are claiming.

He calls her a blushing apple and what he means by this is that she stands out - he sees potential in her and he’s planning on plucking that and exploiting it to his own whims. Of course blushing seems to have its own connotations but in relation to the apple analogy it makes sense. The sentence in itself is very disgusting and gross, but not because it gives off “pedo” vibes, it’s because he’s being predatory but not in any sexual way, there’s nothing sexual about it, literally nothing.

It’s gross because that’s what devils do, they prey on the weak, sick, elderly and children, the most vulnerable in a society because they’re easy prey (in their minds, etc) he’s also may be planning on grooming her presumably into a future position that would serve him later on (like what Korilla does now), yet might I add there’s nothing sexual about it.

People also bring up Gortash as an example but theres also nothing to add with that either. Gortash was abused by Nubaldin (who is an employee of Raphael’s), who says it himself that he would beat Gortash until he was sobbing, there is no mention of Raphael partaking in this let alone any other sorts of abuse (tho he’s not innocent here either, negligent in the very least)

Also, when looking at Gortash’s design it’s clear he holds some sort of admiration for Raphael, he copies his outfit somewhat with the devil’s accessories and such, which would be strange if any abuse by Raphael happened.

Raphael is a devil and if we even look at his father, who in canon, takes good aligned children/babies and eats them so perhaps the leap to something just as sinister isn’t too crazy to come to. Yet, at the same time there is no evidence of this whatsoever other than vibes which is a weak argument in the first place.

His line about Mol is purposely made to be uncomfortable and weird, Karlach even comments on it being such.

“please let me smack this creep”

The line is supposed to show how predatory and deplorable he is, but where I think people are getting confused is that they think him being predatory automatically means he is a pedo, which just isn’t the case. No where else in the game is it stated he has an affinity for specifically children and especially not in that way.

Karlach I think even says more about it after the conversation on how she sees mol going down the same route she did, as in someone taking advantage of their naïveté but not sexually, just that they’re going to use them to their own ends and screw them over in the long run, I think if Karlach thought he was being sexual about it she would’ve been a bit more pissed or comment about it at the very least (more than just calling him a creep lol)

Like I know I might be crazy for this comparison but this feels like when ppl were saying William Afton is a pedo, on the basis of him being (literally) predatory around kids and vibes - you can be predatory and not a pedo, the two aren’t synonymous.

I also think it’s kinda disingenuous to push away criticism by saying you’re only defending Raphael bc ur attracted to him etc, I can like his character and still think he’s a shitty disgusting person, as well as having critical thoughts on that matter, especially since I love my girl hope (justice for hope fr) and I will most likely always kill Raphael in my playthroughs too since he’s such a lil freak anyway.

I really think it’s just a total lack of media literacy, just because these characters are preying on kids weaknesses/vulnerabilities (luring them into selling their souls or grooming them to work for you in the future) does not equate to them being pedophiles. Is it gross and deplorable behaviour? YES, that was the point, but does that mean they’re pedophiles? NO.

The line is gross, it’s supposed to be, and I understand if someone’s first thought might be is he a yknow, but to stick with that and to boldly claim he’s something that there isn’t any evidence for is wild to me. Call him a predator, a groomer, murderer, a literal devil, all things he literally is lol.

Look maybe I’m crazy, maybe I’m being wild, I’m not trying to defend him, he’s disgusting and literally evil lol, yet I still think it’s a misjudgement of his character, since there’s other evil characters in game but that doesn’t mean you can just add every evil thing a person can be into them, like minthara, even Gortash, orin or ketheric or whatever, they have their limits, (tho orin is probably the one with the fewest limitations lol) but if you’re going to call anyone a pedo have it be Mizora, least she grooms Wyll and follows through with disgusting touching (everytime she’s licking him in the promotion, EW, tho that’s not in game so debatable)

I get that with such a clearly and obviously disgusting line that that might be the conclusion people will automatically come to but at the same time I just ask that you do some more thinking on the matter, like sure he’s just a lil pixel dude but at the same time it’s a bit worrying to see how quick people will confidently jump and claim he’s a pedophile.

Anyway, media literacy is dead and we’ve killed it.

[teapartyprincess4two]

HOT TAKE/ UNPOPULAR OPINION

(AGAIN)

Okay, someone commented this on my last post & I’d love to continue the conversation.

Reminder: this is just an opinion and I don’t mean to offend anyone 💗 I am not offended or bothered by this comment, I just want to share my opinion. We can all have civilized discussions and it’s okay to disagree!

—

1. Very true! He HAS claimed to be the founder! They even refer to him as the founder of the brand on instagram posts, promotional videos, and on the update messages they send. But I also don’t understand how him not actually being the founder affects anyone. Literally at all. The world kept rotating, our hearts are still beating, literally no one is going to die over this. It’s fine.

2. Prices vary for multiple brands, not just his. It’s up to you whether you’d like to splurge on something nice or not. Personally, I couldn’t justify the purchase because it’s CHAPSTICK. But, I do spend more money on other items such as foundation (Rare Beauty) or even lipstick/lipgloss (Fenty Beauty). At the end of the day, when you add this item to your cart and type out your card information, it’s your choice whether you actually purchase it or not. Sure he’s advertising his product, but never is he forcing you to finalize your purchase. I’d like to add that you’re paying for the brand and the name associated with it, but if you would just like a chapstick. Just a regular ole chapstick. They sell some (like I said) at CVS and Walmart that do the job just fine.

3. Nowadays it’s very difficult and rare for ANYONE to have a completely original idea. I’m sure he never claimed to have INVENTED chapstick. Instead, he INNOVATED on a preexisting concept alongside a group of professionals (cause let’s be honest you need a team to guide you, especially when it’s your first project) to reimagine and conceptualize his idea. There are actually a variety of aspects that make his product unique. For one, it’s bigger than most chapsticks you find at the store. Secondly, it comes in extremely unique flavors. And lastly, it dispenses differently. So, no, he didn’t “create it all on his own,” but I’m sure he put in the necessary amount of brain power to MAKE it his own. Let’s take a look at other brand owners such as Selena Gomez and Rihanna. Selena and Rihanna didn’t INVENT makeup, they just made their products unique and that’s what people fell in love with. These celebrities have teams working alongside them to fulfill these dreams and ideas, but still work as the FACE of the brand. Nick did and is doing the same thing.

3. I think it was obvious that his brand and product is owned by a company. Unless Nick and his brothers had enough money to literally build a whole factory, gather materials, and then go through the process of hiring an entire staff of employees before ever actually creating and finalizing a marketable product, then yes it’s obvious the product is owned by an outside company. Everyone needs someone to help give them a kickstart, almost like a ‘sponsor.’ Surely none of us believed Nick was actually cutting pineapples and creating chapstick flavors in a secret lab.

4. I can’t speak on the ‘false claims’ this company has made, but even then: a lot of companies find loopholes. Either that, or they lie by omission. And a lot of companies OWN other companies. It’s just business.

5. If you feel personally exploited by Nicolas Sturniolo (he’s literally just a YOUTUBER) because you VOLUNTARILY purchased overpriced chapstick, then I’m sorry to break it to you but you have 1st world problems.

At the end of the day I’m just here to write and read fanfiction and these are just OPINIONS. Take them how you will, disagree if you want to, but cancel culture is gross. Let’s focus our efforts on positive things & if you truly feel the need to scratch your cancelling itch, cancel someone who actually did something wrong. Lol just love each other guys.

I’d like to close this off, and officially end this topic of conversation with this: It’s just chapstick guys. Just chapstick.

Meep moop

[shinesurge]

in a fit of minor despair i blazed TWO (2) comic posts, and by chance a very kind reader ALSO blazed a completely different post the next day. Some insights from the new dashboard (assuming they're accurate lmfao), in case it helps anybody:

The major takeaway here is, as much as we all hate booktok ads and despite what people insist, nobody actually wants a real synopsis of your thing, they want zero-context clickbait.

All three of these were for 2500 views, mine were both targeted towards identical tag audiences and the Kind Follower's was ALSO for 2500 but they chose some different (still applicable) tags.

The pinned post, with some actual comic pages, the elevator pitch, and some basic info about the comic gained around 37 engagements, including 6 reblogs. Worth noting that I formatted this post specifically to be clear and painlessly sharable, it doesn't stretch the page or have clickable links and has all the info about the thing right out front, the sort of thing I respond to.

The softer world edit I originally made because I like making them, with no intention of using it for advertising and which includes zero context for the characters, also no links, got 80 engagements, 6 reblogs and one new follower.

And finally, the follower's blazed post was an actual comic update that differed from the usual for Reasons; instead of a real comic panel it ALSO had a softer world edit attached. None of the text was formatted well for an ad at all, just being the usual links to the comic's website. It gained 36 engagements overall, with 4 reblogs.

And no matter WHAT the post looks like: nobody clicks links.

I'll also mention that pinned post has been there since February, and before I blazed it it had gained around 175 notes in five months. A lot of my static character posts will get 70 or 80 notes without me tagging or trying or really doing anything to promote them, because. They're not meant to be used like that lol

Granted: tumblr as a website is a mess, these numbers could be wildly inaccurate, this is not a super scientific study, but Man.

Personally, I do not respond to this sort of clickbaity booktok shit very well when it's INTENDED for advertising, specifically because I feel like it disrespects the audience and, worse, imitates genuine art to exploit peoples' genuine feelings. It feels VERY close to those covert influencer ads, it honestly makes me kinda sick. But I have talked about this phenomenon before, and the numbers here do back it up. I do think there's some nuance here, but it would take a whole other post to get into it I think.

And I mean, when I make stuff about my own comic it IS always genuine. The audience for "fanwork" I make of my own stuff is extremely small (mostly Me) so it's not like it would be lucrative to crank out a ton of random fake fandom posts; they're not any less earnest if I use them for ads now and then. So I dunno, I guess it's not EXACTLY the same as those gross publisher ads pretending to be teen girls, but it's irritating to be here. I know what I'm looking for wrt ads and getting into new things and I try to treat others the same way. It would be cool to get some traction while treating my audience like Real People, but clearly that route doesn't work seeing as my comic career now has a very real expiration date lmfao. Get out there and make some memes I guess?

[charmac]

I’m new to this fandom and was hoping you could provide some insight. How come people seem to really dislike Rob ? What are your thoughts on him?

We need a welcome packet to the Fandom at this point, honestly.

I'm not gonna go through the exhaustive list of things you could call Rob McElhenney out for, but I will give you some insight on the fandom relationship with Rob.

Rob was always the more "humble" of RCG, having actually come from Philly, growing up in the lower class, no college education, basically completely scraping by to become an actor and create Sunny.. well, you know that story. Up until very recently, Rob has always seemed to hold to his values in the core idea of Sunny, that creatives should have control of their work, that the best stuff comes from the people who have the ideas and create it.

Since meeting and going into business with Ryan Reynolds, he's kind of done a complete 180 in that regard. Buying into NFTs and Crypto, believing A.I. has a place in writing for television and we should be using it.. (you can look into his company Adim for more on that) and straight-up admitting he wants to be in the "Ownership business," and is moving away from the creative side of his endeavors. Every other thing out of Rob's mouth nowadays is to build this new image of "Ryan Reynolds magnitude": that he's a businessman, that he should be seen as Hollywood elite, that he wants to be worth billions...as opposed to, you know, a guy that has cool ideas and makes really cool things...

So the Fandom watched Rob go from a humble, "doing it for the love of it" guy to "owning as much as possible and exploiting new technology to get there" business man, and that's rough, and gross, and sucks (and backseats Sunny.. a lot). On top of that there's the history Rob has, especially with Sunny, satirising/commentating on certain subjects poorly and doubling down on having done it, and him having the political views of what I'd call an "Obama Democrat," (take a walk through his older Instagram posts and off-handed remarks on TASP)... It's enough to kind of pick your poison or pile on and actively dislike/hate Rob as a person.

My personal thoughts are.. complicated. I don't "stan" Rob (or any real person for that matter), I love the show, and I will continue to see and value what Rob has to say about it because it's his show. He's the creator of my favourite thing in the entire world, and he still does put a lot into that thing, and you can't shake that Sunny is not Sunny in any way shape or form without him. On top of that, I have met him and I can't understate how genuine he was to meet and talk to, and how kind he was to me holds a lot of weight in my opinion of him (unfortunately? lol?). So I can't say I dislike him, but I can say I continue to be disappointed by his recent endeavours, and I hope he snaps out of it (though I don't think he will).

I don't blame people who dislike him or even hate him, I don't think there's any expectation for a fan of Sunny to like RCG (whether they never talk about them or openly talk shit about them), and I don't think there's a reason for fans to argue over liking/disliking them as people. They're all white, cishet (presenting) middle-aged guys in Hollywood who live in million dollar houses, there's no brownie points for defending them and there's no morality awards being handed out for calling them out. Feel how you want, Sunny's the focus here

[randomthefox]

The Sonic movies are the most sexist garbage when you actually think about it.

Maddie has effectively no character whatsoever. She's supposed to be a vet, but that LITERALLY NEVER COMES UP IN A RELEVANT WAY in ANY of the three movies. The one time it's even MENTIONED by Tom in the first movie, it's immediately dismissed. He asks her if she can do some veterinary stuff to help Sonic, and she says "lol no but I have smelling salts for humans" so her being a vet literally doesn't matter at all. She has no life or role outside of being Tom's Wife. Maddie does not exist as an individual person, she is ONLY Tom's Wife.

If these movies weren't GARBAGE written by boomer fuckwads, the fact that Maddie is a vet should be of particular significance. She is a healer of animals. Sonic (IN THE VIDEO GAMES!!!!!) is a protector of animals. In the movies he also had a mother figure and lost her. So he really SHOULD feel a longing and connection towards Maddie instead of Tom. But Maddie is a woman, so the script couldn't possibly have her be the one who has a significant role as Sonic's paternal figure. Women are gross. They either need to know their place as a supporter of men, or be killed off like Longclaw was. Thus, Maddie is willing to give up her MEDICAL PRACTICE in Green Hills for the sake of moving to San Fransisco, even offering to go on sabbatical to scope out new places they could move into even though Tom is the one who wants to get a job as a POLICE OFFER in the city and thus should be taking the opportunity to get the lay of the land. Naw, why make sense and be logical? Get this DISGUSTING WOMAN out of the film until she's needed again as per the summoning of the man who owns her.

Maddie is SUCH a NONENTITY that her actor Tika Sumpter literally had to DEMAND that the writers GIVE HER SOMETHING TO FUCKING DO in the second movie. When the person who is supposed to be the lead actress of the movie is forced to resort to that, that means that THE FILM MAKERS ARE SEXIST PIECES OF SHIT you guys.

Also gotta love the way how in the 3rd movie Maddie completely abandons Sonic and the other boys, who are supposed to be her adopted children, to go sit at Tom's bedside. Even though there's nothing she can do for him. She just spends the rest of the fucking movie sitting by his hospital bed. Wordlessly. Instead of taking a proactive part in the rest of the plot by providing emotional support to Sonic. Who desperately NEEDS emotional support at that point. But naw, Maddie needs to be a good little house wife and devote herself thoughtlessly to her husband. I suppose she NEEDED to be at his bedside so in case Tom died of his injuries, she could drink a bottle of poison to kill herself since she wouldn't have any reason to live anymore without her husband. That's the outlook on womens rights I assume the film makers have at least.

I'm not even going to get into fucking Rachel. What an utterly disgusting straight up no joke sickeningly offensive stereotype of a black woman. I have no idea how anybody is okay with this character, she single handedly sets the equal rights movement back at least forty years. Straight up a minstrel show of a character.

And then in the 3rd movie they introduce Director Rockwell. Another example of the filmmakers portraying women as subordinates to men. She has maybe six lines of dialog grand total in the entire film. And her final scene is being tricked by Tom, by exploiting her natural female instinct to be submissive towards a man. He literally orders her to give him the key, which she does even though she is BLATANTLY SUSPICIOUS, and then as soon as she hands the key over she just walks out of the movie. Seriously, Rockwell is never seen again after she hands over the key. There's no resolution to her character whatsoever. But why would a female character need a resolution? After all she's a yucky filthy disgusting stupid woman, so naturally as far as the film makers are concerned she isn't worth writing or filming a resolution for her.

These movies should be roasted at the stake by feminists everywhere. The only reason they aren't is because of The Sonic Double Standard.

[wendytestabrat]

the episode that ruined changed kyle's character

i swear we gotta talk abt the episode “toilet paper” bc i feel like s7 was the season that rlly changed kyle’s character, and it’s ESPECIALLY evident in this episode. prior to season 7 (mainly seasons 1-3) kyle was a toxic piece of shit with no guilt or remorse whatseoever and was even worse than cartman LOL. like there was soooo much terrible shit kyle did in the early seasons like threatening to break cartman’s head open in “cow days” and forcing him to ride a bull AFTER HE JUST GOT OUT OF THE HOSPITAL over some terrance and phillip dolls and then in “fat camp” him and stan torment and exploit kenny by making him do all this gross shit to make money off of him and i could go on and on. but then out of nowhere in s7 they changed kyle to the sanctimonious up his ass person he is today who only cares abt taking the moral high ground and stopping cartman above all else. it’s like bruh how did kyle go from being a sociopathic maniac who has no problem harming others to getting upset over literally just TPing someone’s house? LOL i swear in the episode kyle is deadass LOSING SLEEP and can’t live with himself over something so trivial and stupid. ok yeah it’s wrong to TP someone’s house but he acts like this is the worst possible thing anyone could do to someone, when it’s just harmless prank a lot of kids pull (at least back in the day when kids used to actually know how to have fun, now all of them are on their phones). like oh nooooo this family has toilet paper all over their house and has to get it all off it’s TRAGIC. it’s like kyle has done way more atrocious shit that actually harmed people so i don’t get why that’s the one thing that breaks him and makes him go through a moral dilemma LOL. AND ALSO there was this moment in “the ring” when i had re-watched it not too long ago of kyle TPing a house with stan and cartman and he’s all happy and doing it with 0 hesitation. so yeah that was inconsistent AF and just makes the “toilet paper” episode look dumb.

[merakiui]

spare beta azul thoughts mayhaps 👀🤲?

>:) I may have a few thoughts to share!!

✧ he wears contacts rather than glasses.

✧ still just as pompous as canon azul, but he's arguably meaner and sharper-tongued. by which his insults aren't backhanded or veiled thickly in sweetness. they are just insults, but they're always accented with laughter or amusement. mean, rude, sadistic tako!!!

✧ down horrendous with the breeding kink (just like canon azul), only i like to imagine that maybe beta azul is more confident with his mer form. so while canon azul prefers to knock you up the human way, beta azul prefers the octopus way. <3

✧ speaking of confidence, maybe he's actually extroverted and isn't using that as a front to hide true introverted behavior (like canon azul). he has rizz, but the rizz is so overwhelming it makes you want to kick him in the ankles and tell him to never open his mouth again. ;;;;

✧ he definitely uses expensive hair products (lots of hair gel to get that lovely mountain slope swoop LOL). also a big lover of money and capitalism. probably running some abstract pyramid scheme. is rather shameless when it comes to exploiting opportunities and people. canon azul will try to have some decorum; beta azul does not.

✧ mostro lounge is most likely still the same mostro lounge, but deep in my heart beta azul is running illicit activities after hours. maybe gambling or something with sex. it's a not-so-secret secret passed around amongst the students that after hours is the best time to visit for nocturnal fun. (i.e. beta azul is whoring you out to his dorm and any visitors from the other dorms. beta riddle is his best, most loyal customer. T_T)

✧ perhaps he is not as jealous (or pathetic) as canon azul (i.e. he lives in constant denial and gaslights himself into thinking otherwise).

✧ maybe he's an incel. 🫣 gross, terrible tako with his gross, terrible mindset and his gross, terrible ways of doing business. <3

✧ still has the twins do the dirty work for him, but at the same time i like to think he's beat some students bloody before. if not with his bare hands, it's with his octopus cane. >:) he probably uses it to break your ankles if the two of you get into a fight and you allude to leaving him and (unlike panicking and breaking down like canon azul) he just gets very, very angry. >_< he really likes your legs, but it's just because he likes the idea of taking away something you (as a human) rely so heavily on. it's something about petty revenge or something about making you feel just like how he did when he had to learn how to walk for the first time on land.

✧ rather than being bullied in his childhood, he was most definitely the bully.

[evilsanlang]

Heyy sorry if this is a dumb question but I've been trying to get into tgcf for ages but I've always been so uncomfortable with the fact that xl met hc when he was a little boy...I know hc is a completely different person by the time they get together but it's still so weird to me. Isn't that grooming? Idk much about the story but I know mxtx has a history of writing gross stuff

I'd just like to know what you think since it's rare to find mxtx critical people and I never see anyone talking about this /gen

it's not a dumb question! it's completely normal to side-eye the circumstances of their first meeting with mxtx's track record. to get this out of the way right off the bat: it's most definitely not grooming, which is a tool deliberately employed to earn a child's trust with the intent to exploit them. their interactions early on are mainly one-sided and sporadic; although young hua cheng becomes his devotee after xie lian saves him, xie lian barely knows who he is, and there's nothing whatsoever on his side that suggests intent to form a connection. at best he thinks young hua cheng is good with a sword and should be appointed, but then that's really about xie lian getting on board with child soldiers, which. is a whole other topic. worth mentioning that it's not until they've passed 800 years apart that they begin to form a bond.

but that's taking the story at face value without considering the author's intent - and when we revisit the infamous land of the tender scene, the wink wink nudge author notes at the end of it, no one can say you're wrong to be uncomfortable. as with all media you have to start asking yourself: why did the author frame things this way? how should I contextualize their meeting at 10 and 17 years old respectively, knowing mxtx intended to write them as a couple from the start? how should I feel about a scene where the teenage future love interest witnesses the protagonist under the effect of a sex pollen in close proximity but technically nothing actually happens between them, and what was the author's purpose behind that?

this is part of what makes this hard to discuss: the characters themselves don't quite cross boundaries, but the characters aren't their own people, and the author behind them has a history of writing rape porn between teens and whatever the hell goes on in scum villain. that makes some of the choices she took with the story, at absolute best, questionable. and you should question them! I know my mutuals and I do, to the anger of some mxtx fans who stumble upon our posts lol

everyone has different tolerance thresholds, and personally tgcf is within mine, as is mdzs, while I refuse to touch scum villain with a ten feet pole. I do think hualian's relationship is written well enough that it doesn't bother me, but it might bother you, and that's completely understandable. something doesn't have to be morally reprehensible to turn you off of it

[grosskelly]

Tumblr suggested you to me and tbh yes. Yesss.

I have an advice question. How would you suggest people get better at drawing Gross Creatures? Every time I try, they end up looking too cute to be fully Gross and I need to get past this cute hump so I can draw weird depressurized extra-dimensional creatures a la Blobfish but make it a wild boar or something (for a specific comic project I’ve been thinking about since I was 15, but also in general)

I can’t quite wrap my mind around it and you are Expert

HEY i'm so glad you found my art & liked it! I don't know that I'm an expert as I'm pretty sure I make my gross creatures cute as well LOL, but maybe my perception as to what is cute and what isn't is a bit skewed!

i think the best advice i can give (note: this is what works for me! everyone has a different approach) when designing creatures is to think of a few animals you're drawing from and then do some life drawing studies of those creatures! for me, that helps me learn & understand the shapes and underlying Vibe of a thing. once you feel that you've sufficiently grokked the thing as is, then you can start fucking it up! body horror works when a thing is recognizable, but expected features are 'wrong' in some way. like when the fingers are just a little too long, or there are teeth where teeth shouldn't be, etc.

the blobfish is a great example irl! at the appropriate depth, it looks like a pretty standard fish, but when its brought up to the surface, it looks like That! body horror is really just about subverting the viewers expectation. we're all hard wired to perceive the world a very specific way, and so twisting it even a LITTLE can be unsettling! the human face is the easiest thing to exploit for this purpose. HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEHOW. any other body horror freaks please feel free to weigh in!!